


The New Star

by MelodicDaemon



Category: Beetlejuice - All Media Types, Beetlejuice - Perfect/Brown & King
Genre: (not on BJ or Maria's part, Abusive Parents, Apologies, Bad Parenting, Canon-Typical Violence, Child Neglect, Family, Family Fluff, Found Family, Gen, Grandmothers, Juno just sucks), beetlebabes dni, child endangerment, it's on Juno, more tags to be added later, musical verse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-07
Updated: 2019-11-06
Packaged: 2020-11-27 03:24:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20941493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelodicDaemon/pseuds/MelodicDaemon
Summary: Over the past couple years, Lydia and Betelgeuse have started hanging out, trusting each other like siblings. Lydia will tell Betelgeuse a bunch about her school life but he constantly avoids talking about himself. So when she learns that he has a kid, she is surprised to say the least. But it isn't as simple as he has a kid considering the fact that he's a demon and so is Juno.





	1. Prologue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's been 6 months since Lydia has seen Betelgeuse and she still feels guilty about killing him so she summons him in order to apologize. She also expects an apology for all he did.

It had been at least 6 months since she had seen Betelgeuse. For the most part, after he left, the Deetzes and Maitlands had avoided mentioning him. While  _ they _ didn’t mention him, he popped into Lydia’s mind every once and awhile. She would see stripes, or something colored very vibrantly green, and she couldn’t help but think of the lonely demon that had called her a friend. 

It didn’t help that she had helped bring him to life and then killed him right after. God she felt terrible for that. Yeah he did terrible things to her family, but he was desperate. In all honesty, she just wanted to bury the hatchet. So that’s what she planned to do.

One day after school, when her parents were out and the Maitlands were upstairs focusing on their newest hobby (making a model recreation of the town since they couldn’t exactly leave the house to see it for themselves), she decided it was the best time to summon him.

She wasn’t exactly sure how he’d react so she got a bat just in case. (Why Delia had one laying around she wasn’t sure, that woman wasn’t exactly the most athletic—yoga doesn’t count.)

Once she was set, she cleared her floor so he had plenty of room before she sat on her bed, bat held tightly in her hand. “Beetlejuice,” she said slowly, looking around to see if there was any change before repeating. “Beetlejuice.” There still wasn’t a change, but she could feel the hairs on her arms stand up, whether it was something supernatural, or her just being scared after the last time she had summoned him, she wasn’t sure. “Beetlejuice!” she finished with a shouted whisper.

With a puff of smoke, the aforementioned demon stood in front of her. He seemed a bit confused, but as he looked around, a smirk started to grow on his face.

When he finally turned his attention to her, he threw open his arms like he was offering a hug. “Kid! Good to see you again!” was the last thing she expected him to say.

“Good to see me? Wha- You’re not mad?” she asked, slowly setting the bat down next to her.

The demon started floating, leaning forward and resting his head in his hand. “About you killing me?” Lydia winced at the reminder of what she had done. “Eh. Still a bit hurt. But hey!” he exclaimed as he sat upright throwing his arms in the air, “Because of you, I got rid of my mom.” His smile falters as he mumbled, “even if it wasn’t for very long.”

Wasn’t for very long? Lydia looked up at him a bit confused, “What do you mean wasn’t for very long? Isn’t she dead?”

Betelgeuse started to float on his stomach again, resting his head on his arms, “Sadly no. You can’t really kill a demon by just, destroying their body. Sorry to break it to you, babes.” When Lydia didn’t say anything else, Betelgeuse asked, “So what did ya need?"

She sighed, “Well I… I wanted to talk about, all that.” She made a vague gesture with her arms like she was talking about what was just mentioned. “And I wanted to apologize for tricking you.”

Betelgeuse just shrugged, “Apology accepted.”

After a brief moment of silence, Lydia asked, “Don’t _ you  _ have anything to say?” she looked up at him expectantly, an eyebrow quirked. 

He looked around as he tried to think of anything he had to tell her. It was obvious nothing came to his mind when he said, very confused, “No?”

“Really BJ? You don’t have  _ anything _ to say? Nothing at all?” she pushed. 

“Nope. Why?”

Lydia sighed as she crossed her arms and glared up at him, “No apology for forcing me to marry you? For trying to kill Delia and my dad? For tricking me into almost exorcising Barbara?” As she listed things off she sounded a bit more annoyed with each one. 

Betelgeuse started to sink to the floor, his hair shifting to a bit of a greenish blue as he realized just how many horrible things he had done last time he saw her. “Fine. I’m sorry I did all that stuff,” he said kind of dismissively, crossing his arms and looking away so he didn't have to face her. 

“Betelgeuse,” she said sternly, “I  _ will  _ open a portal to the Netherworld and shove you through right now.”

At the threat, Betelgeuse quickly turned to her and shook his hands frantically, “No! No! Okay! I’m sorry. Really!” He sighs and leans back, rubbing his hands down his face as he let himself go somewhat limp. “I just, I’m sorry. I was mad… I know that’s not an excuse... but-” He sighed and mumbled the last part, “I thought you were leaving me and I was going to be all alone again.”

“Thank you,” she said as she relaxed and stood up.

“And just so you know, BJ, I wasn’t planning on leaving you forever,” she explained, a frown starting to form on her face, “I just wanted to find my mom. She would have loved to meet you.”

There was a long stretch of silence between the two before Betelgeuse pulled Lydia into a hug and gently rubbed her back. “I'm sorry kid,” he mumbled. She hugged him, clinging to his jacket as she tried to calm down. She had gotten better about handling her mom’s death, but it was still hard.

After a few minutes, he finally laughed and pulled away. “So, if I’m right about time, you should be in school now, right?” he asked, a grin forming on his face. “Got any gossip?”

She laughs wiping away what few tears had formed, “Tons.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There may be more chapters than 11, but for not, I'm planning for 11 total. (Also I'm uploading both this prologue and the first chapter today since they're mostly exposition, but the later chapters will be uploaded one at a time.)  
Also the choice of Maria being Miss Argentina's first name comes from betelgeuse (TheUltimateFandomer)'s take me where my soul can run (https://archiveofourown.org/works/20511107). It's really good and I highly suggest checking it out.
> 
> Kudos and Comments are greatly appreciated. Critiques are also fine!  
Wanna chat? Feel free to message me on tumblr @ MothDaemon or check out my art on tumblr @ MelodicDaemon.


	2. Have You Ever Loved Someone?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lydia tries to get Betelgeuse talking about himself, but he keeps avoiding it.

“And then I punched him!” Lydia said with a laugh as she walked alongside Betelgeuse up the path to the house on the hill. They were just getting back from a horror convention, so Betelgeuse was just looking like his spooky self and Lydia had gore makeup on. The convention was a few towns over and Charles and Delia were both busy—and wouldn't enjoy it—so she got Betelgeuse to take her. 

Since they made up, the two had hung out more and more over those two years. Yeah, Betelgeuse wasn't around all the time but she didn't expect him to be. He had become like that older brother that lives elsewhere but takes you to do cool things when your parents didn't have time to. No matter what he’d almost always listen. She could gossip with him about the kids at her school. Lydia  _ could _ talk to her parents too, but they didn't crack any jokes or give good pranking advice like BJ could. (Overall, he made it all a lot more fun.) 

“Wow you're really coming into your own kid,” he said as he phased through the front door. Lydia fumbled with her keys so she could open the door, only for him to open it from the inside. “So, aside from that asshole teasing your friend for being trans, how’s school been?” He started floating backwards so he could look at her as they talked. 

“Boring as always,” she said before dropping her keys in the tray on the couch side table. “I'm home!” she called before heading for the stairs. 

“How was the convention?” Barbara called from the kitchen, “Did BJ behave?”

“It was good!” Lydia called while BJ grumbled out an, “Of course! What do you take me for? A monster?”

“No, but you do cause chaos most of the time.” Barbara moved to stand in the doorway, watching the two. She had an apron wrapped around her waist even though she wouldn't actually get anything on herself while she cooked because she was a ghost and most of the time it phased through her when she wasn't trying to hold it. “Dinner will be ready in about an hour and your dad just called saying he’d be home in a half.”

“Alright. If you need me, I'll be in my room putting stuff away,” Lydia said as she started up the stairs. Betelgeuse scrunched up his nose and stuck his tongue out at Barbara, but smiled as he followed Lydia up the stairs. The ghostly mom just shook her head and returned to the kitchen to keep cooking. 

“How’s your girlfriend doing? What was her name? Shauna was it? You haven't mentioned her at all,” Betelgeuse asked as he sat down on her bed criss cross applesauce.

Years ago Lydia would have chased him off her bed because he was dirty, but since hanging around the patchwork family, he seems to have started cleaning up a bit more so she isn't as strict about him not touching her stuff. “You mean Sheela? We broke up, a few months ago,” she said as she dropped her backpack onto her desk and opened it up.

“Oh. I’m sorry about that kid-”

Lydia shrugged as she started pulling out the snacks that sat on top of everything and hid them in her desk drawer. “Don’t worry BJ, it was mutual.” She pulled out a jacket she had brought along in case it got cold, which it didn't. 

“That’s good?” he said a bit confused.

“Yeah that’s a good thing. We're still friends.” She hung it up in her closet before returning to pull out the makeup she had bought while there and what she had brought along in case she needed to touch up her own makeup.

There was a long moment of silence before Lydia decided to ask, “Have you ever dated someone, Beej?”

Betelgeuse seemed to be caught off guard by the question, laughing nervously, “Of course I’ve been with people! I'm hundreds of years old!”

“I don’t mean just slept with people, BJ, I meant actually loved someone,” she said rolling her eyes as she moved her now almost empty backpack from the desk to the floor. She sat down and pulled the posters she had bought out. She set them aside before putting her school supplies back in the bag so she would be ready for school on Monday.

Betelgeuse had started to float around her room. “You see…” he said softly as he looked at the stuff on her shelf. He was quiet for a moment before picking up a snowflake obsidian skull, “I see Delia finally convinced you to get some crystals.” He flipped it around in his hand, examining it, “Looks pretty cool with all these flakes of grey and white.”

“ _ Beetlejuice- _ ” Lydia said, his head snapping to face her. (His neck literally making a snapping sound.) “Have you ever-”

He sets the skull down with a loud thud, “You know what would look really nice? A skull with some flowers.” He started to float around finding an idea place for such a decoration. “It would look really-”

“Beetlejuice-”

“I could get you one-”

“BJ!” Lydia finally shouted, getting back up from her desk. 

“What?” he asked, turning his head 180 degrees to look at her. 

“Have you ever loved someone?”

He looks at his wrist—he has no watch. “Would you look at the time, kid. I gotta get going,” he said as he floats over to her dresser and picks up a stray sharpie from it. “I have a job to do after all and I don’t want people snitching to my mom. You saw how she gets.” He went over to a free space of wall and starts drawing a door. 

Not wanting to fight with him, Lydia sighed, “Alright, BJ. I'll see you later.”

He opened the portal and turned to give her a strained smile, “Cya, Lyds. Tell Delia I said hi.”

As soon as he was gone she sighed and turned to face the mirror that hung above her desk. This wasn't the first time BJ had ditched her when she started asking about his personal life.

She gets it, talking about personal stuff can be hard, but she’s shared quite a bit with him, but he can't trust her with anything. Trusting each other with secrets is what siblings are for after all. (Yes he's not  _ technically _ her brother, but they act like it so why not treat him like one.)

Before dwelling on it anymore and getting annoyed, Lydia decided to start cleaning the gore makeup off her face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (The name drop Shauna is 100% a reference to BlueStarRigel's Perfectly Strange. I highly suggest going and checking it out.)
> 
> The next chapter will be uploaded some day within the next two weeks (10.14.19 - 10.25.19)
> 
> Kudos and Comments are greatly appreciated. Critiques are also fine!  
Wanna chat? Feel free to message me on tumblr @ MothDaemon or check out my art on tumblr @ MelodicDaemon.


	3. Your Kid?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Betelgeuse has seemed a bit odd for the past couple of months.

**~6 Months Later~**

Lydia flopped onto her bed, dropping her backpack on the floor next to her. She groaned into the pillow before rolling onto her back to stare up at the glow in the dark stickers stuck to her ceiling.

She had just started senior year and  _ god  _ was it a pain in the ass. And it wasn't even because there was so much work. No, the amount of work she had was about as much as last year, but this year she had to figure out what she wanted to do  _ after _ high school. Was she going to college? A trade school? Just going straight to work? She had no idea. And it was stressing her out to say the least. 

And what does she do when she’s stressed out? Well, hang out with an emotionally immature demon of course! _ Like any other teenage girl _ . 

She sat up on her bed and scooted to the edge of it before calling out “Beetlejuice” three times. Lydia wasn't as hesitant about summoning him anymore. She had done it enough he could tell when it was her summoning him and not some random kids using a summoning spell that pulls him to Earth, but not properly enough to let him run free.

More often than not, when Betelgeuse was summoned, he was decent. Often fixing his suit like he had just poofed it on. (She assumed most of the time he did.)

But this time he wasn't. This time he was in sweats and a loose t-shirt, his hair more wild than usual. Not to mention his hair was a weird mix of purple, white, and gray splotches. What that meant Lydia had no clue beyond the purple being upset or sad.

“Beetlejuice?” she said his name a fourth time, obviously confused. 

It seemed to take him a moment to realize where he was, letting out a deep sigh as he relaxed. “Now’s  _ not _ the time kid,” he grumbled as he shook his head like he was clearing a fog. He looked around for a marker, trudging over to her desk and grabbing one before going to the space in her wall she left open for a door. 

Lydia scrambled off her bed, almost falling over. She yelped out, “BJ, wait!”

He set the marker down on a nearby shelf and glanced to her. “Look kid, I'm busy. If it's really important, summon me in like… a few hours? Yeah? A few hours,” he said as he knocked on the door and walked through, not even letting her get a word in before he made sure the door slammed behind him so she couldn’t follow. 

She stood there staring at the wall, her arms crossed as she thought about how he had looked. She had seen him upset before, but not,  _ frazzled _ . Yeah. That's what he seemed like. Frazzled. 

With him leaving, that was her first option of a distraction gone. So, it seems like option number two would have to do. 

* * *

Lydia had gone to bother Adam and Barbara, the two busy trying to build a scale model of the town (with help from Lydia and her photos she brings them after her walks). She was initially going to complain about school, but BJ walking out on her didn't leave her mind. 

As she helped them, she brought up Betelgeuse’s “frazzled” state. To be honest, she wasn’t sure what kind of response the ghosts would have. She was the one who spent the most time with him, if anything she should be the one to know. 

“Maybe you can ask him?” Adam offered, looking up from the small door he was carving some details into. 

Lydia sighed, not looking up from the small house she was painting. “I would, but he never wants to talk about himself or his life.” She finally looked up at Adam, a frown on her face, “He'll just leave on me if I ask.”

Barbara sighed as she gently stroked Lydia’s half blonde half black hair back. (It was a new style she was trying and she rather liked it.) “I don’t know, Lydia,” the woman said with a sigh, “Maybe offer him some candy or something if he spills the beans?”

“You mean treat him like a dog?”

“He acts like a wild animal, so why not?” Adam shrugged.

Lydia laughed. She had to admit, they weren't too far off, “We'll see.”

* * *

Lydia decided to try and summon him after dinner. She didn't even bother to go up to her room, deciding that summoning him where the Maitlands and her parents would be would get them to help her prod him for answers.

When he appeared, he collapsed to the floor.

“Beej!” she exclaimed running over to him. The Maitlands were also surprised and rushed over to check on him as well. (Charles and Delia were in the kitchen cleaning up so they had only heard the commotion.) 

Betelgeuse was still wearing the same clothes as earlier but this time his hair was a very dark green, almost black. She definitely hadn't seen this color before. 

He just groaned and waved his hand back as he lay face down. “What is it kid?” he mumbled into the floorboards. 

“Are you okay?” Lydia asked as she tried to help him get up, but he didn't even bother to move.

He nodded, his face still pressed into the floorboards. “Yeah. Just tired,” he mumbled, “Esther has been throwing a fit all day.”

“Esther?” Barbara asked, looking to her husband somewhat confused. 

He groaned as he folded his arms and rested his head on them like a pillow. “My kid.”

“Kid!?” they all exclaimed looking between each other then back down to the demon. At least now why he seemed exhausted made sense. 

He let out a bitter laugh, “Oh yeah. I didn't tell you. I was gonna let it be a surprise for when you finally met her.”

“Oh my God! BJ! You have to let us meet her!” Lydia exclaimed, gently shaking him. He grumbled and reached up to push her off. 

“Wait a second. Does that mean you're married? Since when?” Adam questioned. 

“Can't a guy get some rest?” Betelgeuse grumbled before rolling over onto his back, crashing into Lydia. “Marriage isn't the same for the dead and since almost two years now?” he grumbled as he put an arm over his eyes to shield them from the light of the room. Betelgeuse glanced to Lydia, “You met Miss Argentina when you went to the Netherworld, right? The receptionist lady?” At her nod he continued, “I've been seeing her.”

“Wow, someone tamed Beetlejuice,” Adam said, stifling a laugh. Betelgeuse glared up at him, causing the ghost to go quiet. 

“Do you think we could meet Esther and Miss Argentina?” Lydia asked, a grin plastered on her face. 

“You can just call her Maria, and I'll have to ask her,” Betelgeuse said before rolling to his side, “Just let me nap for a bit then I'll go check.” Before anyone could keep bothering him, he started snoring.

The Maitlands looked at each other, mouthing something, Lydia wasn’t sure what. 

“Is everything alri-” Delia started but when she saw the knocked out form on the floor, she let out a silent oh. 

Lydia glanced back at her with a smile. “Delia, you won't believe it, but he has a kid,” she whispered loudly to her mom. 

“Well isn’t that great,” she said walking over to the couch and grabbing the blanket that hung over the back. She unfolded it and gently dropped it over Betelgeuse. “Why don't you help me make desert and you can tell me everything.”

“Alright,” Lydia said, gently patting her ‘brother’ on the shoulder before moving to get up. She was so ready to take on the role of being an aunt, whether or not she was going to be considered Esther’s aunt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be uploaded some day within the next two weeks (10.28.19 - 11.04.19)   
Edit:11.8,19 will hopefully be the latest. Sorry for the lack of update. I got busy with studying for school and lack of motivation to write. (Technically, I have the next chapter written, I just don't like posting without having a buffer of an extra chapter ready in case I'm out of commission for some reason.)
> 
> Kudos and Comments are greatly appreciated. Critiques are also fine!  
Wanna chat? Feel free to message me on tumblr @ MothDaemon or check out my art on tumblr @ MelodicDaemon.


	4. The New Star of the Show

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Deetz and Maitlands get to meet Esther and properly get to talk to Miss Argentina.

The patchwork family let Betelgeuse sleep on the floor, trying their best not to disturb him. Charles, the only one strong enough to even possibly lift BJ, did try to move him initially, but a growl from the full-grown man quickly deterred him. Considering how sharp Beej’s teeth are, Charles really didn’t feel like losing an arm. They could simply just walk around him.

Betelgeuse napped for a solid 5 hours, before he woke up in a panic. “Maria! Esther!” he shouted, glancing around frantically. His hands glowed green like he was ready to use his full powers like the first time Lyds had even summoned him. It didn’t take him long before he realized where he was and let out a sigh. “Right. Deetz’s house.”

Since it was the middle of the night, most of the house’s occupants were already asleep, so not long after his shouting, there was a crash upstairs and what sounded like running footsteps.

“You okay Betelgeuse?” Lydia called from the landing of the stairs.

“Yeah. Just forgot where I was,” he grumbled, glancing up to her before as he got up from the floor. He draped the blanket over the side of the couch. Lydia had to admit he seemed so much more lethargic and less explosive than he used to be. “Not used to a house being this quiet.”

“Esther must be noisy,” she said with a tired smile.

“Somewhat. It’s more dealing with my mom or her lackeys that make the most noise.” He glanced around the room before spotting a marker laying on the coffee table.

“Lackeys? You mean the football players? Wait your mom? You mean she's back?” Lydia started to question as Betelgeuse opened a portal to the Netherworld. He didn’t answer her questions, just leaving without an answer. “Rude,” she grumbled before heading back upstairs.

~~~

Surprisingly, Betelgeuse seemed to be considerate of what time it was for the humans, because he didn’t return with Maria and Esther until it was 10am. However, that didn’t mean he had bothered to knock or enter through the front door, he just showed up via a portal in the living room.

“I’m back, kid!” Beej shouted when he saw only Delia, who was sitting on the couch trying to knit. (She picked up the hobby about a year ago. She wasn’t the best, but she was getting better.)

Once again, there was running upstairs before Lydia came bouncing down the stairs. “Hi Miss Argentina,” she greeted with a smile as she approached the couple and their child.  It was still weird to her that Betelgeuse was actually in a committed relationship.

“You can just call me Maria, chica,”  Miss Argentina Maria said with a small chuckle. “Lawrence told me you and your family were excited to meet Esther.” The green skinned woman crouched a bit and shifted Esther in her arms so Lydia could get a better look at her.

The baby had light green skin, and short curly hair that was reddish-brown at the roots and a dull orange. She honestly looked like an odd, but fitting mix of Betelgeuse and Maria.

“Esther,” BJ cooed, gently shaking her hand. She grabbed onto a finger and let out a little whine, turning towards Maria to try and hide. “Say hi to your Aunt Lyds.”

Maria gently rocked Esther in her arms, moving her free hand to gently tickle the baby’s belly. “Mija, saluda a tu tía Lydia,” she repeated in Spanish.

The Maitlands stood over on the stair’s landing, watching quietly, a bit dumbfounded at how  _ quiet  _ and  _ gentle _ Betelgeuse was being with Esther. If you asked them just the other day if they thought Betelgeuse could ever be calm, they would have said no. And here they were, being proven wrong.  Delia was watching from the couch, but she wasn’t surprised like everyone else. She believed believes in second chances and that people could change, so the fact that Betelgeuse could act like this was never impossible to her.

Esther finally opened her eyes, looking around the room curiously. “Hi there, Esther,” Lydia cooed, as she smiled down at the baby. Her voice caught Esther’s attention and the baby looked at her and started to babble, reaching out for her. 

Lydia giggled as she continued to coo, “Hiiii there.” She gently tickled Esther’s stomach, the baby grabbing for her fingers, trying to put her fingers in her mouth. “No no no,” she said gently pulling them away carefully. The Maitlands finally made their way down the stairs and started fawning over Esther as well.

A small smile formed on Maria’s face. “Do you want to hold her?” she asked, shifting Esther again.

Lydia lit up at the offer, “Sure!”

Betelgeuse however seemed hesitant, “Why don't we sit down first?”

“BJ, are you  _ worried? _ ” Adam asked, a look of surprise on his face.

BJ’s hair took on a bit of pink at the tips as he sputtered, “Me? Worried? What? Never.” He laughed nervously as he tried to subtly usher everyone over to the couch.

Maria gently pat Betelgeuse on the shoulder with a small laugh, “She’ll be fine, dear. You’re able to hold Esther just fine.”

“Hey!”

“But yes. Let's sit down. I would much rather get off my feet,” Maria said, walking over to the armchair and waiting for Lydia to sit down before handing her Esther and showing her how to hold her properly. Once Lydia had a good hold on Esther, Maria sat down next to Betelgeuse—who was watching Lydia and Esther attentively—on the couch.

The Maitlands had followed the group and were now leaning over the armchair, playing with Esther as Lydia talked. “So BJ… you mentioned you’ve been having to deal with your mom? What has she been doing?”

Betelgeuse sighed and buried his face in his hands as he started to talk, “Yeah. Yeah, she's been bothering us to see Esther. I keep telling her no, because there's no way in  _ hell _ I would ever trust her near Esther, and she’s pissed about it.” His hair had shifted colors again to a dull red. 

“She's started trying to see Esther using force,” Maria took over explaining, gently patting Betelgeuse on the back, “like trying to possess me. She's done it so often I've started to build a resistance to her control.”

“And she can't control me since I'm about as strong as her.”

“Why don’t you let her see her?” Barbara asked, finally sitting on the arm of the chair, turning her full attention to the couple. “Y’know, aside from the fact that she's a demon. But that also makes you one, and Esther part demon.”

“Why don't I let her see Esther? Because she’s a manipulative asshole!” BJ snapped, his hair flaring a vibrant red now. “She only believes in tough love. And I  _ don't _ want Esther going through what I did with her,” he started rambling, his hands balled into fists. He dug his nails into the palm of his hand, “I want Esther to know she can be herself, and do what she wants, and that we’ll still love her and-” As Betelgeuse’s voice started to raise, Esther started to whine, her hair shifting from it's soft orange to blue. 

“Lawrence,” Maria cut him off, kissing the side of his head, “Calm down, love. She's safe right now. Okay?”

He sighed. “Right. She’s fine. Juno isn't here. Alright.” BJ lets out another sharper and more aggressive sigh as he leaned back into the couch. “We should probably get going,” he mumbled before getting up from the couch. 

“You know, if you two ever want a break, we could watch Esther,” Lydia offered as she carefully got up. She walked over to Betelgeuse and handed him Esther. 

He held her against his chest. “I don’t know Lyds-” he started only to be cut off by Maria.

“We’ll see about it. Thank you, niña.”

“Maria-”

“We’ll discuss it when we get home, Lawrence.”

“Fine,” he grumbled, looking to Lydia. “Mind getting a marker to make a door for us, kid?”

“Sure,” she said, running off to the kitchen to grab a spare marker from one of the drawers before returning.

Lydia walked with them over to a nearby wall, drawing the door. “I was serious in my offer to watch her.”

“I know kid,” he sighed, “I'll think about it.”

“Adios, Lydia. It was nice to see you again,” Maria said with a smile and a small curtsy before heading through the portal before Betelgeuse. 

“C’ya kid.”

“Cya Beej.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be uploaded some day within the next two weeks (11.13.19 - 11.26.19)
> 
> Kudos and Comments are greatly appreciated. Critiques are also fine!  
Wanna chat? Feel free to message me on tumblr @ MothDaemon or check out my art on tumblr @ MelodicDaemon.

**Author's Note:**

> Don't worry, I'm not dead! I'll update this in hopefully the next two weeks. I've been trying to keep up with school work (I got 2 more weeks then I'll be on break) and write a dnd campaign so those have been taking up my time.
> 
> Update 3.25.20: hi yes! I haven't forgotten about this fic! Dont worry! Thank you for being patient with me.  
I got super busy with school work and my dnd campaign so I couldn't write, and by the time I could, my hyperfixation shifted (back) to Sanders Sides. I'm trying to fixate on BJTMTMTM again, but I dont know when that'll be. I do still love the show and plan to finish this, dont worry. When I have the energy to write for it again I'll try to get chapter 5 out. Hopefully the new sanders sides episode will be out soon so I can cap off the fixation lol.


End file.
